Unprofitable Servant wrote:James Madison: "(The Constitution preserves) the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation ... (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."

Remember the second amendment did not GIVE rights to anybody, it confirmed rights they already had.

If your quotation is correct they could not possibly have already had the right. Their former colonial government ("almost every other nation") having previously taken that right away. It would need to be expressly restored.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:I remember a situation from our neighbors to north in which the doctors stop working because the system ran out of money (would you work for free) and people suffered or waited even longer.

Until you provide a well referenced source for this it will be filed in the round container.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:There is NO SUCH THING as FREE healthcare

Strawman.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:Greece, Spain, Italy are on the verge of bankruptcy. U.K. and Germany not far behind. U.S. going that way.

No, the US is actually leading the way. None of the countries have anything to be proud of, but, medium term projections out to 2016 put the USA behind only already bankrupt Greece out of the countries you named.

The full top 6 in Gross Government Debt as a % of GDP are 1. Japan2. Greece3. Lebanon4. Saint Kitts and Nevis5. Eritrea6. United States.

The European countries figure include the required funding for their health and social security programmes.As you note, the US medicaid and medicare are unfunded. So the list above actually understates the severity of the situation for the USA.

Your neighbour to the north has remarkably resilient public finances, combined with public healthcare. So much so that the UK just poached Mark Carney from being Governor of the Bank of Canada to become Governor of the Bank of England.

External debt per capita (values stated in US dollars):USA $52,170

Canada $29,625EU average $27,864UK $15,795

It is evidently not public healthcare that drives the worst budget deficits.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:Also, if the nations that offer healthcare are showing their appreciation they sure have an odd way of showing it as their healthcare systems are in shambles and most of European nations are going under in debt crisis.

Given that the USA has no universal healthcare programme and has $16bn in public debt (and more in unfunded liabilities) it evidently is not the public healthcare that has been the decisive factor in creating the debt crisis.

Some countries have both public healthcare, balanced budgets and manageable long term debt.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:All that does not address the fact that it is NOT the responsibility of the government to provide healthcare.

Correct, it is not the responsibility of government. It is their privilege and honour, as evidenced by the international examples you have given.

If you ask an entire nation to be willing to die and suffer in the service of the nation, then it is fitting and appropriate that that sacrifice was honoured by the creation of affordable heatlhcare for the wounded, widows and orphans.

Whereas, a nation that suffered little restricts such benefits to its veterans only. A nation that went through the blitz and stood almost ALONE against Hitler honours all its people with a noble, lasting, legacy.